Family Law

Mainly men use paternity test kits to determine it they are the father of a specific child. The widespread availability of DNA testing has made it a simpler and less expensive procedure than in...

Establishing paternity of a child can be done, even if you are not the biological father. If a father wants to take legal responsibility for a child that is not biologically his, he may do so....

Before leaving for a kid-free vacation, most parents leave their child in the great hands of friends or family. But what happens when your time away is because of an unexpected injury or illness?...

Paternity testing has became something that can be completed quite easily. No matter what your circumstances there are ways to get DNA testing without a lot of obstacles. The steps in this article...

Sometimes a child's last name must be changed. Many times, it is to reflect the name of the child's father; in other situations, it might be because of marriage, divorce or adoption. If you live...

Divorce is traumatic when children are involved. Once children are born, fathers have the right to see their children and be involved in their lives (if abuse, neglect or drug addiction is not a...

There are instances in which parental rights are terminated improperly. In most cases, the wrongful termination of parental rights involve the rights of a father as a result of an order in a...

In the state of Georgia, if a child is born out of wedlock, a father has no legal rights to the child unless the child is legitimated. Legitimation is simply a legal process which grants parental...

When we hear about paternity tests and custody battles, nine times out of 10 they are referring to a father who's not taking the responsibility for his child. But, what if the mother is the one...

In the United States, fathers have specific legal rights regarding paternity, custody, visitation, child support and termination of parental rights. A father can be designated "absent" based upon...

There are a variety of fundamental legal issues in paternity testing. To best understand the purpose behind and procedures associated with paternity testing, it is crucial to recognize the legal...

With about one-third children being born to unmarried parents, it is not surprising that the paternity of a child can sometimes be in question. There are a couple different processes that can be...

Nearly everyone born in the United States since 1920 has a birth certificate on file with the Department of Vital Records in the state in which he was born. Birth certificates can be used to...

There are several reasons a father may sign over his parental rights: he may not be able to financially support the child and may not have contact with the child, or a stepparent may be...

Family law issues vary and involve everything from adoption to divorce. Most common family law questions relate to issues leading up to and following divorce, including child support, legal...

The Texas Family Code provides explicit guidance to the termination of parental rights in the state. The establishment of the Paternity Registry in 1997 encourages men to be financially...

There are two primary circumstances in which establishing legal paternity rights is at issue. First, there is the situation in which an unmarried woman gives birth to a child and seeks to...

Parental rights testing normally centers around determining the father of a child so that the rights and obligations of that individual are established. There are a number of different...

Federal law holds a child's biological or adoptive parents responsible for his financial well-being. In cases of divorce or births outside of a marriage, arrangements must be made for the child's...

Establishing paternity is very important for not only the child in question, but also the parents. Every child is entitled to know who their father or mother is, and every parent has the right to...

No matter who orders a paternity test, there's only question it seeks to answer: Who's the baby's daddy? Though most women know the father of their children, in many cases, it's not as obvious....

The goal of the federal Child Support Enforcement Program is to ensure that every child receives adequate financial support, and that every family has the best chance at being self-sufficient....

Child custody laws for unwed parents are really no different than for parents who were once wed. Unwed parents can also seek the same types of custody arrangements as divorced parents, as long as...

Legal paternity testing is a way to establish the identity of a child's father in a court of law through DNA paternity testing procedures. Many home paternity kits purport to sell a legal...

According to Divorcegstatistics.org, up to 50 percent of all first marriages and up to 65 percent of all second marriages in the U.S. end in divorce. Additionally, the National Center for Health...

Although laws for paternity testing differ from one state to the next, all states have a procedure in place to identify the child's father using DNA tests. Once the biological father is...

Home DNA testing to establish your child's paternity can yield results that are more than 99 percent conclusive. However, be aware that results of a home paternity test kit may not be used if you...

In the eyes of the law, a child without a known father cannot receive child support from a biological father, nor can the father seek custody or visitation rights with his child. Paternity tests...

On the surface, paternity testing seems like a cut-and-dry proposition. From a medical standpoint, that is the case. When it comes to some of the legal aspects associated with paternity testing,...

Paternity tests can be used after a child is born, and even before, to determine the identity of a child's putative (assumed) father. A paternity test is extremely helpful in that it allows the...

When it comes to identifying a child's biological father, genetic paternity testing results, which are almost 100-percent accurate, are considered the most reliable evidence and supersede all...

Paternity means legal fatherhood. Paternity rights are questioned, challenged and established through a family court proceeding. Each state has different requirements and policies regarding...

Paternity testing in Texas is necessary to establish the legal paternity of your child so that child support can be enforced. Texas has a number of exemplary private paternity lawyers who can...

Paternity testing to determine your baby's father comes with more risks than testing on a born child, as the medical procedures used are more invasive and carry a higher risk of miscarriage. DNA...

There is no uniform body of federal law that can be applied to paternity testing. It is established by individual states. There are broad provisions that apply to all states which allow a...

There is no way to positively tell by looking at individuals if a man is the father of a child, so men often demand paternity testing to confirm that they are indeed the father. Other times a...

Paternity testing is sometimes necessary to ensure that a child's biological father supports the child financially. However, it can also work in the favor of named or assumed fathers who have...

As more children are born out of wedlock, DNA paternity testing is a common method of definitively determining the identify of a child's biological father. Paternity testing is often required if...

When parents are unmarried, the father is not usually given primary custody unless the mother is unfit. But if both parents have played an active and stable role in the child's life, joint custody...

If you are a single mom, the father of your child can't walk away from paying child support just because the two of you never married. Paternity testing definitively establishes the father of your...

Determining paternity entitles the child to a number of benefits that would otherwise be missed. Beyond the emotional bond that comes with knowing who his father is, there are plenty of other...

Paternity testing has evolved so much in the last couple of decades. It's also become more affordable and accessible to average families, so much so that there are now paternity test kits you can...

DNA testing is the most widely used technique to determine paternity. In the vast majority of cases, DNA testing involves identifying the father of a child. In some isolated instances--for...

In many states, a child born to an unwed mother is legally considered to have no father--and therefore cannot receive child support from the other parent until paternity is established. Most...

In Florida, it is presumed that if married couple has a child, the husband is the child's father and the wife his mother, unless a father contests paternity. However, unmarried parents may first...

DNA paternity testing examines DNA from a mother, child and father (or possible father). When a mother is unsure of who the father is or needs proof of paternity, a DNA test will confirm the...

The laws for child custody are similar for both wed and unwed parents, minus a few legal glitches. In the event that the parents, whether living together or not, have issues with the visitation...

DNA testing companies are everywhere in the US. If you look in your local phone book, there may be at least 1 or 2 labs that serve you county, plus many more that process paternity tests by mail....

There are many reasons why a father's name is not added to a birth certificate at the time of the birth. The original procedure of adding the father's name to the birth certificate generally takes...

A petition to establish paternity can be filed by the mother or father of a child. Usually, its purpose is to demand support or visitation rights. This issue is handled in family court, so the...